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Let’s Talk: Starcraft gets a Remaster? AND a Re-release?

Posted on: Mar 27, 2017

At the Seoul, Korea’s “I <3 Starcraft” event, it was announced that Starcraft 1 and Starcraft’s expansion “Brood War” is being remade, remastered for 4k Resolution. Hot damn! It’s going to boast re-recorded dialogue, redone briefing screens, the whole works. Due out this year, we can play Starcraft on a modern PC with modern visual aesthetics! Apparently, Brood War has become popular again, especially out the Korea way. The gameplay is not changing at all, from what I understand, the code will remain largely the same. But I have to ask myself, with seven years of Starcraft 2 under our belts, why the decision to work on this instead of maybe, make Starcraft 2 more enjoyable? Sure, lots of people like SC2, but the way I look at it, it was a nearly ten-year cash grab. Each “expansion” focused on the single faction [but with, of course, updates for all], but a story for each expansion? Why not release one complete game? A very popular opinion is that Blizzard ruined Starcraft with the SC2 debacle and the way they handled the release of content/expansions for it. It felt like they simply wanted to milk it for as much money as possible. This is Blizzard we’re talking about, though; they aren’t struggling, and they do make quality games that people pay hand over fist for.

So why this, why now? They already announced that the original, un-remastered Starcraft 1/Brood War, for free on the Blizzard Store. It will contain bug fixes, an observer mode, the ability re-bind keys. So why also release a remaster? Are they trying to rebuild the hype for one of their greatest releases? Are they trying to bring back an eSports scene for Starcraft 1 in addition to Starcraft 2? That would sure get more eyes on their product. Other people have asked, “Why not remakes of Warcraft 1 and 2?” and that’s a fair talking point. But, Warcraft 3 wasn’t a seen as a failure! However, there is no price listed for Starcraft 1: Remaster that I’m aware of. I’ve been looking into it, but I’m definitely curious about what’s going on. To be totally honest, I’d watch Starcraft 1 tournaments before Starcraft 2. It’s not really about nostalgia either, since sure I played SC1 when I was younger, but I was 16 or 17 when it came out, and I had no PC at home. So I missed the Nostalgia Train. I just think it’s a really interesting choice to re-release the original in a playable format, and also a remaster. I’d think that they would re-release the original, for free [as planned], and see how many downloads/how much playtime happens and move forward. But. . . this is Blizzard. They’re likely 100% sure people why download/buy it, and frankly they’re probably not wrong. I’m very curious to see where this develops in the eSports scene though as the year progresses. Is there going to be a big Starcraft 1 boom? It’s still played, but with this, we could see more of it than we have. . . ever, frankly.

Do you agree or disagree on how Starcraft 2 was handled? Was it okay to release three expansions at 40 bucks a pop? Are you excited for the Remaster, or will you simply be happy with the re-release for free?